For Christians, the Bible calls us to reverse our thinking on a lot of subjects. We are to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, and serve if we want to lead. When we are finished living, death is not a final punishment, but the beginning of a new life in heaven and an eternal reward. We don’t see death that way because we can only see one side of it, the side that takes place in our present reality. To understand the Bible’s view, we need to see death from a different perspective.

As I said in the first post in this series, people have two “parts;” a physical part, the body, that will wear out and die and a spiritual part, the soul or spirit, which will never die. When a person becomes a Christian, God’s Holy Spirit begins to live in them and for many people it is their first experience with the spiritual world. We are aware of feelings and input that comes in through ways other than our senses. It is both exhilarating and unnerving when we “sense” the Holy Spirit tell us that something is wrong or we just stop doing things we used to do. Our spirit is being changed and the change is reflected in what we do and how we think. That’s how Paul could be sure that a person who had accepted Christ would begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22. God’s Holy Spirit teaches our spirit to be God-like and demonstrate God’s character.

When we die, our body releases our spirit. I talked in an earlier post about where the spirit will go. In this case, I am talking about those who have accepted Jesus’ death for their sins and their spirits are going to heaven for eternity with God. For those of us on the earthly side of death, all we see is the body stop working and the person we knew is gone. But, if we could see the whole picture, we would see that when the person drew his last breath here, his eyes opened in heaven where there are angels singing, there are the spirits of believers through the ages who have died before him, and he is where God dwells in His glory. The joy, peace, and acceptance are overwhelming. There is a sense of finally being home in the place that Jesus promised he would prepare for us. Here on earth, we only see half the picture, and it’s not the good half.

That is why Christians see death differently. Do we miss those who die? Of course we do do. Do we think that someone died too soon, or too young, or that they lingered too long? Sure. It’s OK to feel that way. God comforts us in our sorrow. Jesus, as God in the flesh, had people in his life die. When his friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept. But, because of the great hope we have in heaven, we can celebrate death as a graduation or passage. Death no longer means eternal separation from God. As Paul said, because Jesus paid our penalty for sin “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” I Cor 15:54-55.

I don’t want to over spiritualize this. If you have lost someone to death, it hurts and there is sense of loss that will never go away. The way you feel is normal and you should not bury those feelings. It is OK to grieve and take time to heal. God will comfort you if you ask and He will restore your hope for the future.

Really, the purpose of this short series on death is you. Do you know what will happen when you die? I hope that you have accepted, or will accept, Jesus’ death for your sins and that you will spend eternity in heaven. I became a Christian when I was in college. There was this girl, I don’t even remember her name, who wanted to share the gospel with me every time I talked to her. I humored her and I knew enough from attending church to respond to her questions and tell her that I just hadn’t made my mind up about Jesus. One day, I thought I had her. I said, how about all those people in other countries who will never hear the gospel, are they just going to hell? She didn’t even flinch. She said, “Dave, this isn’t about them, it’s about you. God loves them and I trust he will treat them justly. But, you have heard the gospel, you have to decide what to do with it, you have no excuse.” I never forgot that. It was a couple years later that I committed my life to Jesus in a little country church when I was home on summer break. My life was forever changed. If you are not a Christian and you have read these last few posts, you have all the information you need to make a decision. What will it be? I trust that God will speak to you and that you will accept the wonderful free gift of grace and salvation that He is offering.

The week of June 8th I could feel a flare coming on and the medication was not working fast enough to control it. I expected that it would land me in the Cleveland Clinic, so Wednesday night, June 11, I went downstairs to pay some bills and get things cleaned up. The next thing I remember is that it was now 4 AM and I knew I needed to get to the hospital. I called Mary Ann and told her (I couldn’t walk upstairs). I don’t remember the ambulance ride or any part of the admission process, maybe a spill-over of the effects of the sedation. I remember Mary Ann telling me that they were going to vent me. I knew that had caused problems with other RP patients and I signaled her not to do it. They warned my that I could die as a result and that it was necessary if they were going to fly me to the Cleveland Clinic. I didn’t care about dying, but I did want to get to the Clinic if we could. I signaled OK and I was out.

The next thing i remember is waking up at the Clinic 8 days later. (It had taken 36 hours for a bed to open so I remained on a vent and sedated in Cincinnati until Friday August 13th (I know, lucky for me). I was flown to Cleveland Friday afternoon. Saturday morning, June 14, the doctor asked Mary Ann to step out of the room so he could put a line in my neck and I had a heart attack. While Mary Ann and our daughters prayed for me over the phone in another room, the “Code Blue” team gave me CPR for 30 minutes. When my heart started, they put me in a medically induced coma to prevent or limit any brain damage that may have been caused by the lack of oxygen. After 8 days in the coma, I responded to my name and could answer “yes” and “no” questions by nodding my head. Do you know who you are? That was a softball, I responded to my name, right? Do you know where you are? I knew where I was supposed to be, so I guessed right. The effect of the sedation wore off and I was “waking up.”

I’m retelling this story in case you have just found the blog and missed the longer version of the story in my initial post in this series. I also want to remake the point that I was out cold. During those 8 days, folks visited me, talked to me, read to me, prayed for me and I was completely unaware.

I have read 90 Minutes in Heaven and Heaven is for Real (both great books) and I would have expected a different kind of experience as I laid close to death. But, I didn’t hear angels singing , see people who had died before me, or get a glimpse inside the Pearly Gates. My only recollection from that time is what seemed like a short dream that I can’t even place in time.

It was night-time and I was in a strange city and needed to get home. I walked into the parking lot where my rented car was. I could hardly walk and I knew I needed to get home. It was a small red car. The cars in the lot were parked so closely together that I couldn’t get in mine. Someone I couldn’t see told me that there was a way to walk home so I started to walk. I was on a big concrete platform, like an outdoor performance pavilion and there were rows of concrete benches where the audience would sit. There was a wet slippery ramp that led down from the middle of the stage that I needed to go down. There were no guard rails. As I moved toward the ramp, I fell off the front of the stage. I was going to fall about 6 feet and land on the first concrete bench. I rolled to brace for the impact. I stopped in mid-air and “woke up.” Something told me that what had happened was not real but reflected a spiritual battle. In the end, God said “enough,” stopped the fight and spared me.

For now, I am taking the experience at face value. There was a spiritual battle going on while I was sedated and God intervened to end it. I may remember more as time goes on, but I think it is lost in the sedation. Mary Ann is better at talking about that time and I will ask her to write a post describing her experiences during my heart attack and the days that followed.

No pithy lessons here. I am still processing the experience and I’ll share insights as they come. I guess the one thing this demonstrates is that we don’t always get answers. Our job is to trust God to lead us and follow where He goes. Even at times where we have only enough light to see what is immediately ahead of us. Take the step you see and trust that the next step will be there.

When I had my heart attack, I was dead for about 30 minutes. I do not have a specific memory of that experience, maybe because I was sedated when it happened. I have some impressions that I will share in later posts along with my thoughts on death and what happens when we die. This series will “get into the weeds” a little bit and I hope you will hang with me. It’s stuff we don’t often think about and it may be the most important stuff I say in the blog.

Let’s start with a fundamental truth: our spirit, or soul, lives forever. Once you exist, you never cease to exist. At death, your soul is freed from your body, but it doesn’t perish. Take a minute to let that sink in.

Jesus told us that, when we die, our souls will be taken to heaven where we will spend eternity with God or we will go to hell where we will spend eternity separated from God. Heaven is a place of joy and fellowship, hell is a place of suffering (we see the consequences of decisions we can’t change) and darkness. Hell isn’t something we like to talk about, but Jesus talked about it a lot. It is real and he doesn’t want us there.

What heaven and hell have in common is that things happen, but time never passes. Imagine the most peaceful and joy-filled time of your life, you look at the clock and it is stopped. The peace and joy continue and time remains stopped. Can this go on forever? Yes, it does. Now imagine the worst time you ever had: fear, regret, panic, suffering and pain. Imagine being trapped in that time. You keep checking the clock and time has not passed. Can this go on forever? Yes, it does.

So, the big question you should be asking is: How do I make sure that, when the time comes, I am going to heaven and not to hell? Do you meet the entry requirement? To get into heaven, a person must be perfect without ever having sinned. God is perfect and he cannot allow imperfect souls to be around Him. That’s a problem because, on our own, we are not perfect. That’s where Jesus comes in.

The consequence for our imperfection, or sin, is eternal death. Or, as Paul says, the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). When we sin, we earn death. Paul also confirms that we all have sinned and fall short of God’s perfect standard (Romans 3:23). We like to think that “sins” are the “big things” that we don’t do. But, the truth is, that sin is every time we do not follow God’s law perfectly. By that standard, I can’t begin to count how many times a day that I sin.

God knew that His standard was unreachable when he set it, that is why He planned an alternative. For us, because we sin, death is the necessary outcome. But, what if a person did live a perfect life? That person would not have “earned death” and would be entitled to go to heaven and spend eternity with God. That person is Jesus. He lived a perfect life, yet he gave up his life for us on the cross. Jesus died the death that we are all condemned to die. God allows us to claim Jesus’ death on the cross as the death that we should have received for our sins. Then, because the price for our sin has been paid, God wipes out its consequences and we can enter heaven as if we had never sinned. The Bible calls us “righteous” meaning that we now have right standing before God. When we get to heaven and are asked, “Did you live a perfect life?” We can say, “I have accepted the perfect life that Jesus lived for me.”

The last question is, if you don’t have this right standing with God and are sure you will go to heaven when you die, how do you get it? You simply need to ask. There are many versions of the “sinner’s prayer” that you can pray. I will give you one here. There is no magic formula. You are committing you life to God and asking Him to forgive you and change you. Will there be changes in your life? You bet. Will it always be smooth sailing? No. But, I can assure you that a life spent on earth at peace with God and eternity in heaven with Him will far outweigh any temporary problems you may face.

Here’s what you can pray. Don’t be afraid to be honest and fill in the gaps.

“Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Please take my life and make me the kind of person You want me to be.”

This prayer is from the Cru Web site. If you want more information, follow this link.

If you have prayed this prayer for the first time, welcome to the kingdom of heaven! If you have prayed this prayer or something like it to recommit your life to Jesus, welcome back. Now, scroll back to the top of the page and click the header to go the blog main page if you are not there already. Read the posts on daily prayer and daily Bible reading and get started.

I am not an expert on the topic of death and dying. I have only died once and, obviously, I wasn’t very good at it because I am writing a blog post two years later. But, the experience was still a cause for some reflection. You can read about it starting here. I originally wrote the reflections on death and dying from the Cleveland Clinic two years ago.

Like most of the posts on The Digital Disciple, the posts were written to help me sort out my ideas and to share them with others who may find them later. I know the process helped me and I hope it has helped others.

The posts approach the subject from a faith perspective. Unless someone is talking only about the physiology of death and dying, I don’t see how it is possible to take a different perspective. What happens up to the point of death may be physiology. But, talking about what happens to the person when the person’s body dies involves faith. It’s like talking about the beginning of the universe. The discussion from the instant of the big bang may be science, but the discussion of the instant before the big bang is faith. It’s hard to walk around the edges of either topic without crossing over.

You may have a different perspective and I invite you to share it in the comments. Or, if you prefer, use the “Contact Me” link on the top of the page to sent me a private e-mail.

Welcome to the relaunched Digital Disciple blog. The blog is still about life’s journey and the lessons learned along the way.

I have begun by re-posting some pieces that I wrote from the Cleveland Clinic in 2014. You will find them if you scroll to the bottom or select The Cleveland Clinic in the categories to the right. I have also added a Site Map (see the list of pages in the right column) that gives a short introduction to some of the content and makes things easier to find.

If you would like to receive e-mail notices of new posts, please fill out the subscription form on the top right side of the page. All of the old subscriptions have been deleted.

You may have tried reading the Bible from front to back. Genesis and Exodus are pretty exciting, but you fell asleep in Leviticus and gave up in Numbers. You’re not alone and not without hope.

I recommend that folks try a daily reading plan where they read the Bible in a year. That way, you are getting regular input from the Bible and you get to see God’s big picture. You also aren’t just picking and choosing the good parts and avoiding the parts that make you uncomfortable. I have done it for over 15 years now and it stays fresh. I am always seeing something new.

Start by finding a Bible that is designed for annual reading, like the One Year Bible or find a reading plan that breaks it down for you. I use the Olive Tree Bible app on my iPad and they have a host of reading plans you can select. My preference is a plan where I am reading through the Bible chronologically with readings from the Old and New Testament each day. There are so many choices available to you. Visit your local Christian book store and they can help. (I work for Family Christian and I know we have many options.)

Begin your Bible reading time with prayer, either as part of your devotional time or just ask God to open His word to you as you read it and make you sensitive to what He wants you to learn. You will begin to see that God uses the regular input that you are receiving to shape your life and attitude for the better. Paul calls it a “transforming” of the mind as we see life from God’s perspective and not our own.

As I said in an earlier post, the purpose for this time is to get regular Bible input that gives God the raw material to build positive change in your life. As you read, you will have questions or ideas that you want to look into. Keep a Bible reading journal (it could be part of your prayer journal if you have one) where you write down topics, questions, and ideas that you would like to investigate more deeply.

For the purposes of your daily reading, focus on what the Bible passage is saying and ask how it applies to you. What truths can you apply to your life? Does the passage identify sin that you need to confess? Maybe it will give you direction in a problem that you are trying to solve. Nothing jumps out at you today? No problem, just stick with it. The more you read the more it will begin to apply. My physical therapist told me that the work I did one week would begin to show next week. Bible reading is a similar cumulative process. Give it time to build up.

It seems like Bible reading should be more complicated, but it isn’t. It is a matter of discipline to read the Bible daily. If you will do it, you will see the result in your life. You can’t read the Bible daily and not be changed by it.

Now you have the two basic tools for spiritual growth and preparedness: prayer and Bible reading. There’s more and I will talk about it in future posts. If you are doing these two things, leave a comment with your approach and suggestions. If you’re not, why not start today?

I suppose there are all sorts of complicated plans that you could develop for Bible reading and prayer, but I figure that the harder I make it, the less likely I am to do it. So, I keep it simple. Simple is good for me. For the purposes of this post, I’m going to call this “devotional time.” It is time spent with God talking to Him and reading His word. I will talk in other posts about the kind of Bible study where you dig into specific topics or questions.

Start by picking a consistent time. Many people like their devotional time in the mornings before they start the day. My time is in the evening as I close my day. The reason was more by default than by plan and you can read about it here. [Editor’s note – since writing this, I have changed to a morning devotional time.] If you can take time in the morning, I think that is a good choice. Whatever time you pick, be consistent. You want this to become a habit and that takes a period of consistent repetition.

Open your time with prayer. Putting aside all the theological stuff, prayer is talking to God. Does God already know you and what you need, sure, but He likes to hear from you. Haven’t prayed in a while. No problem, a simple model to get you started is the acronym ACTS.

“A” stands for acknowledgement or adoration. Begin by acknowledging that you are talking to the God of the universe. It doesn’t need to be overly formal. As you read Jesus prayers or the Psalms, you will get an idea of how to start. You may just start with, “Dear God, thank you that you want to spend time with me and that you care for me. Please guide me as I pray because I am new at this.” The more comfortable you become the easier it will be to get started.

“C” is for confession. We all fall down. Even the best people fail and normal people mess up all the time. God’s standard is perfection. He is perfect and he wants us to be perfect. Of course, we can’t be perfect on our own and I’ll write more on that later. I like to think of confession as “clearing the air” with God. He knows where I have failed, I know where I have failed, let’s get it out there and admit. The great thing about confession is that I can ask for forgiveness, cleansing and healing. Tell God where you have failed and where you need Him. Can’t think of anything to confess? Ask God to show you. If you keep in mind the two greatest commandments: love God and love your neighbor as yourself, you will probably have enough to get started.

“T” is for thanksgiving. What are you thankful for? How has God blessed you? Let Him know that you noticed and you are thankful for it. The Bible teaches that we should be thankful in all circumstances and not just for the good things. You may not be there there yet, but there are things in your life to be thankful for. As you grow in this area, you will be able to thank God for the struggles and trials because He will use them to make you look like Jesus. As hard as it may be to believe, that is His ultimate goal, that we become more like Jesus every day.

“S” is for supplication, a fancy word for “asking for stuff” that rounds out the acronym and makes is easy to remember. You may have thought of prayer as only asking for stuff, I hope this helps you see that there is more to it than that. At the same time, you might believe that asking for stuff is selfish or wrong. It’s OK to take your cares and concerns to God and ask Him to get involved. You can pray for yourself and for other people. God wants you to bring your cares and concerns to Him and He will respond. Keep a prayer journal. Write down the things you are praying about and asking God to get involved in and then write down how He responds. It is a great faith-building experience.

I always close my prayer with “In Jesus name, amen” The “amen” is just how Christians traditionally say “OK, I’m finished praying now.” The “in Jesus name” is important because Jesus tells to pray in his name. So, I’m not going to change that. Again, there is a lot of theology that supports it. But, basically, it is through Jesus that we have the right to pray and ask God for anything. That’s enough reason for me to close with ‘In Jesus name, amen.”

There you have it. As you grow comfortable with prayer, you won’t need this model. Just like building a relationship with anyone else, as you build your relationship with God, you will find that you have a lot to talk about and that you and God are talking all the time. Pick a time and place and get started. Commit to it now. Next I will talk about a simple Bible reading plan that I have used for years to get daily input from the Bible.

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Mark 9:14-28: [14] *And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. [15] And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him [Jesus], were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. [16] And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” [17] And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. [18] And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and *they were not able.” [19] And he answered them, “O *faithless generation, *how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”[20] And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it *convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. [21] And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. [22] And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But *if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” [23] And Jesus said to him, *“If you can! *All things are possible for one who believes.” [24] Immediately the father of the child cried out * and said, “I believe; *help my unbelief!” [25] And when Jesus saw that *a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, *“You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” [26] And after crying out and *convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” [27] But Jesus *took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. [28] And when he had *entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” [29] And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

One of the things I have noticed as we are going through this process is that I don’t worry about the outcome. [You can read the original series of posts from 2014 starting here.] At this point, it appears that God will heal me completely and that I will walk again. There have been enough worrisome things happen to us that I might fret a little about what is next or what we will do. But, instead I find a peace that passes understanding and the assurance that comes from knowing that God holds the future. He has already determined what will happen and my responsibility is to follow His leading and cooperate.

This conclusion is not based on some blinding revelation from God but, rather, on the years I have spent building a foundation of prayer, Bible study, and studying God’s character. I believe in an unchanging God who loves me unconditionally and who will work all things together for my good because I am called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28-30). All of the truth that I have stored up is now ready to use and God has the raw material to build this situation into the outcome that He desires. I could not imagine coming into this situation unprepared. I would be overwhelmed with questions about why bad things happen to good people, why it feels like God is punishing me, and what would have happened if I died. I will talk about all of those topics over the next days and weeks.

When you go on a vacation, you probably plan for it months in advance. A journey like I am on starts in a heartbeat. You must always be ready. I chose the scripture for the opening because it highlights that important point. Mark tells us that Jesus told the disciples that they could not cast out the unclean spirit because this kind only comes out with prayer. But, as you read, Jesus did not pray, he simply commanded it to leave. The disciples couldn’t command the spirit to leave and apparently did not think to pray. Jesus, as the Son of God, clearly had authority to simply banish the spirit. But, Jesus was also a man of prayer. This event was the day after the transfiguration. Jesus was undoubtedly up early and in prayer about his day. He was ready when he encountered the boy with the unclean spirit. The spirit came out with prayer because Jesus had gone into the situation with prayer.

My goal is to live in a state of readiness. I don’t know what I will encounter, but I know that there will be trials and temptations along the way. And, sometimes, there are experiences like I have had that are completely unforeseeable. On June 12, I never would have expected to be where I am today. Without the years I spent in prayer, Bible study, and learning about God, I never would have been ready. This has been the greatest physical challenge I have ever faced. The spiritual battle has been ferocious, there is an adversary, and for some reason he does not want me well. But, I am trusting the grace and mercy of my unchanging God to lead me through this process and bring me out stronger and better because of it.

What should you be doing? I will talk in my next post about my approach to daily Bible study and a simple outline for jump-starting your prayer life. Think of it as preparing your “life’s journey emergence suitcase.” You want it filled with prayer, Bible and a firm knowledge of who God is. Sometimes you will pull things out of it as you need them and sometimes you may be called to live out of it for a while. Either way, you want it to be ready.

I just learned that all the e-mail followers from the old blog were still in the WordPress system. I am sorry you have received all the re-posts as I am putting the site back together. I will clean out the e-mail followers now. If you would like to subscribe again, please go back to the main page and sign up again.

The title of the post says it all. I was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic with respiratory issues on Thursday evening. The good news is that we got here by car (not helicopter) and I should be out on Tuesday. I picked up a chest cold and the steroids weren’t working at home so we made the trip before I hit the critical stage. It was a good decision that will save me time on the other end.

I spent about 24 hours in ICU getting stabilized and then was moved to a regular floor. I tested positive for Parainfluenza type 2 (a respiratory condition affecting kids and immune suppressed patients) and that has landed me in isolation. I hope to get permission to walk the hall later today but a walk down to Starbucks is probably not in the cards.

In ICU, I was able to meet one of the doctors who performed CPR on me for 30 minutes in June. It was great to shake his hand. Mary Ann got to share with him that we know God is in control and we were thankful that He had people like Dr. Choi lined up to work on me when I needed it. I hope the meeting was as encouraging for him as it was for me. I have been able to see several other of my Cleveland friends and doctors who we met this summer. Derrick, the “Chief Encourager” from physical therapy dropped in to see me and pray with me on Friday.

I can report that the menu hasn’t changed since this summer (just in case you wondered). My taste buds are working better now, so I can taste the food. It doesn’t necessarily taste better, but it doesn’t all taste the same either.

Please pray for a continued quick recovery and that I will be out on Tuesday. Also, join us in thanking God for the timing in getting here early. If I need to make this trip, this is the preferred way to do it. I have my next post floating around in my head and may try to get it written, or at least started, while I am here. God bless you all and thanks for your prayers and support. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving with family and friends.